Recent wildlife sightings (Read 658448 times)

chriss · December 30, 2010, 05:38:00 pm

First Barn Owl the other night & a flock of 50 Waxwings out side Tesco the other day, beautiful birds.

SA Chris · December 30, 2010, 07:00:50 pm

Seed on sale?

Randomly saw a fox scorrying up one of the snow filled gullies on the seacliffs near us the other day. I know they are not rare, but just felt slightly odd seeing one right by the sea.

Control freak · January 18, 2011, 02:51:59 am

A couple from the back garden - the spider was being particularly unhelpful and refused to turn round and face me despite provocation

jonjon · January 23, 2011, 10:35:38 pm

Ermine chasing a rabbit at Curbar today, then giving up and wandering back the way it at come.

granticus · February 16, 2011, 12:11:07 am

A couple from last year, dragonfly (what kind??) in the roof of a cave by the sea near Foreland Point, Exmoor. Question is what was it doing there? My theory is that it was getting minerals (salt?) from the roof of the cave...

dragonfly by granticus27, on Flickr

Johnny Brown · February 16, 2011, 09:26:51 am

Its a Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Cordulegaster boltonii. They are reasonably common on moorland in the west of the UK, though not found in Ireland or the eastern counties. From your second pic it looks like a male, did you notice anything that looked like a sting? The females have a long ovipositior and are the longest bodied British insect.

I doubt it was getting minerals, they are entirely carnivorous, more likely just a good roosting spot out of the wind.

SA Chris · February 16, 2011, 09:32:07 am

From the top of SCNL on saturday we watched two black crows (? I think they were crows, Corvids of some sort anyway). They flew off over a ridge across the glen and every 10 m or so they would flip upside down in mid glide and drop a fair bit before righting themselves again and carrying on flying. Is this common? Why do they do it? Apart from to look really cool.

Johnny Brown · February 16, 2011, 09:58:31 am

Quote

every 10 m or so they would flip upside down in mid glide and drop a fair bit before righting themselves again and carrying on flying

Ravens. No doubt the experts say it is 'display' behaviour, but I suspect they just do it for fun. You usually get a 'Gronk' after each flip too.

SA Chris · February 16, 2011, 10:03:16 am

Sounds about right. Cheers.

Did you get PM re SA Guidebooks.

john horscroft · February 16, 2011, 10:14:05 am

Quote from: Johnny Brown on February 16, 2011, 09:58:31 am

Quote
every 10 m or so they would flip upside down in mid glide and drop a fair bit before righting themselves again and carrying on flying

Ravens. No doubt the experts say it is 'display' behaviour, but I suspect they just do it for fun. You usually get a 'Gronk' after each flip too.

...saw a couple doing just that at Turning Stone Edge last year and I'm with you JB, they do it just for fun. Makes me smile every time......

Johnny Brown · February 16, 2011, 10:25:12 am

Can never work out if they ever do a full barrel roll or always flip back after getting half way...

john horscroft · February 16, 2011, 10:49:01 am

Quote from: Johnny Brown on February 16, 2011, 10:25:12 am

Can never work out if they ever do a full barrel roll or always flip back after getting half way...

I reckon I've only ever seen them go half way and back again. However, there must be a Jonathan Livingston Raven out there completing the move!

SA Chris · February 16, 2011, 10:57:55 am

I think it's a there and back too, must be ambiturners. And not barnstormers.

Will Hunt · February 16, 2011, 04:35:20 pm

Just in case there are folks into this stuff who haven't heard of it or read it then go and read A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. The prose is lovely to read. Someone really needs to do A Gritstone Country Almanac. Nominate JB.

Brolly · February 17, 2011, 10:40:09 pm

Not posted on here for a while but had a number of good wildlife viewings in the past two months (owls and kites about 3 miles from the cliff);

Cheeky Minky [Explored #21] by Brolly99, on Flickr

Waxwing on frosty perch! by Brolly99, on Flickr

At the tip of a perch! by Brolly99, on Flickr

Quick turn! by Brolly99, on Flickr

Right time right place? by Brolly99, on Flickr

Must get back into climbing at some point!

Cheers Ol

Adam Lincoln · February 17, 2011, 10:41:40 pm

Quote from: Brolly on February 17, 2011, 10:40:09 pm

Not posted on here for a while but had a number of good wildlife viewings in the past two months (owls and kites about 3 miles from the cliff);

Cheeky Minky [Explored #21] by Brolly99, on Flickr

Waxwing on frosty perch! by Brolly99, on Flickr

At the tip of a perch! by Brolly99, on Flickr

Quick turn! by Brolly99, on Flickr

Right time right place? by Brolly99, on Flickr

Must get back into climbing at some point!

Cheers Ol

Amazing shots!

Zods Beard · February 17, 2011, 11:15:03 pm

Awesome shots Brolly. In regards to the earlier posts,Ravens rule!

SA Chris · February 18, 2011, 09:02:21 am

I hate you dolly. You make me want to bung all my kit in the bin

Awesome shots. The Waxwing is my favourite. Reckon you could win competitions with that; they would lap it up.

DaveC · March 08, 2011, 12:45:40 pm

A couple of shots taken in the garden in recent weeks.

We've been getting quite a few visits from the local Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos lately, hopefully their even larger cousins, the Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos will be back in the autumn now I've got a bigger lense!

That's a tiny Little Lorikeet peeking out of the neighbours flowering eucalypt. We get large flocks of these and two other species (Musk and Rainbow) for much of the year here.

I've been trying to get close enough to our resident male magpie to get a close-up for a while now, he finally let me last week.

Johnny Brown · March 08, 2011, 08:32:13 pm

Had a few days in Victoria before Christmas, it was a nice treat being woken up by the magpies. Lovely sound, especially compared to their british cousins!

underground · March 08, 2011, 08:55:47 pm

Nothing out of the ordinary, but Coombs Dale is alive with frogs at the moment.

Also I'm pretty certain I saw a Curlew over the house at teatime

DaveC · March 10, 2011, 10:08:07 am

Came home from work this afternoon to find this (not so) little chap hanging around in the garden.

There are some seriously big dragonflies around this year!

Brolly · March 10, 2011, 10:37:15 pm

Quote from: DaveC on March 10, 2011, 10:08:07 am

Came home from work this afternoon to find this (not so) little chap hanging around in the garden.

I'm looking forward to seeing dragons this year!

Drove home last weekend to find waxwings in next doors garden!?! I've never seen them on the deck before, but after reading up on it they do when all the berries have dropped.

Waxwing berry fest by Brolly99, on Flickr

Natures birthday treat for me! by Brolly99, on Flickr

Was on just the way home from seeing redpoll

Redpoll in the sun by Brolly99, on Flickr
Happy clicking, Ol

PS ankle still wrong

Falling Down · April 29, 2011, 08:22:40 am

Had a great day out assisting Mr Lamacraft with his duties on Cilan yesterday. Our mission was to locate and count the Choughs nesting on the cliffs. Dave's scope takes you in so close it was a real pleasure to get right in. The Peregrines were out patrolling the ranks of Guillimots lined along the ledges. Razorbills, Gannets, a solitary Raven carrying a huge egg and the pairs of Choughs feeding.. On the top, Wheatears, Skylarks, Linnets and the usual suspects all enjoying the Spring sunshine.

Thanks Dave!

Johnny Brown · April 29, 2011, 02:02:44 pm

Ahhh, jealous! That man has a great job! Chough numbers still good I hope?